Funeral for a Friend

Nermal, my Giant Cypress hybrid bike is no more. This is the bike that got me riding as an adult. This is the $225 bike that I spent well over $1000 on in upgrades, accessories, and mistakes along the way.

I recently replaced the cassette and chain only to discover that the chainrings were worn bad enough to cause skipping. I was going to replace those, but then the bottom bracket (which I’d had problems with before) started coming loose. A close inspection revealed the bottom bracket shell (part of the frame) was cracked.

Neeko, my daughter's bike, upgraded with parts from Nermal

Sure, enough money could have fixed it. However, Nemal had served his purpose. I had moved on to better bikes and didn’t need to fix Nermal.

Luckily Nermal was a “parts donor”. When I bought Nermal, I also bought his twin for my daughter. My daughter named that bike Neeko. I’ve moved the wheels that Tom built for Nermal over to Neeko. I moved the chain and upgraded derailleur purchased from Bluegrass Bicycle.

Neeko now looks much like Nermal did in an earlier iteration. Before I bought a Brooks saddle or switched to flat bars. So the spirit lives on. 🙂